Monday, October 01, 2007

Ohio U. Plagiarism Shakeout: Prof Loses Lawsuit Against State School

COLUMBUS (TDB) -- The Athens News is reporting that Ohio Univesity has won the first round in a legal battle with an engineering professor who claims he was made the fall guy in a plagiarism scandal that rocked the school last year. U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley of Columbus dismissed Jay Gunsekera's civil-rights lawsuit. The professor contended he was disciplined without being given an opportunity to clear his name.

The university has been dealing with theses that were copied by students who received advanced degrees from OU's Russ College of Engineering and Technology. The incidents of plagiarism go back to the 1980s.